Thread: Childrens Books

Not sure if this is really the correct section to be posting this in, but here goes. I was talking to someone that works for the state dept. (native Russian) that is an interpreter. I didnt really get to talk to her for very long though. She suggested that I buy russian literature (like love stories or something). I found that to be very daunting, so I figured maybe Id start out with childrens books. Does anyone have any suggestions on any particular books?

err sorry but I did do a search for childrens books on here, didnt see the thread on a similar topic below.

http://www.lib.ru/TALES/

What about Harry Potter in russian?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... 63-9260115

Or even simplier: Сказки?

http://www.kniga.com/books/product.asp? ... &sku=C0868
http://www.kniga.com/books/product.asp? ... sku=A00461
http://www.kniga.com/books/dept.asp?pag ... %5Fid=1021

Actually, I really don't recommend fairy tales. They're filled with rarely used words, some of which are no longer in use, and the way they're written is a bit weird - sometimes they're written so it'll rhyme, or something. There are also some weird ways of saying things in fairy tales you wouldn't see in normal texts. I'd recommend detective stories for 8-11 year olds or that sort of thing.

Pravit, you're probably right regarding fairy tales. But I honestly can't remember any detective story in russian written specifically for children of that age. Do you know any?

I didn't mean specifically detective stories, just short children's novels in general I know Waxwing read them at one time. I don't actually have a detective story, but the first book I read in Russian was some children's novel about partisans in WWII.

Denis, there are thousands of books like that available in Russia - just look in any big bookshop. I'm halfway through reading my second one - it's in front of me right here - called "загадка сорвавшейся встречи" which is part of a series called "твой детектив".
Now the thing is I can't find any specification of what age it's for, but I'd guess anything from 8 to 14. Certainly I think it's a good thing to try but I really think it would be tough to find something like that outside Russia.

waxwing, after a little bit of googling I found this book in US:

http://www.russianbeat.com/b_tree.cfm?T ... 2%F3%F0%E0

It is 'Детская литература' indeed.

Thanks for the suggestions, im was really thinking of something more like Clifford the Big Red Dog, but I really cant be sure whats the best for me. My russian vocabulary is VERY small, granted im working at improving it, but with my current vocabulary I might be able to do a page a day. I really prefer being told what to buy, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew where I am at in my education.

Have you considered reading rather easy novels you've already read in English? A lot of popular English-language young adult/preadolescent novels are available in Russian translation - Harry Potter, Aretmis Fowl, Lemony Snicket. It's a good way of picking up vocab, since already knowing the story makes it easier to use context clues.